MUNEE in Russia

The Alliance is working with the Center for Energy Efficiency (CENEf), the MUNEE partner in Russia, to promote exchanges of information between municipal leaders and to disseminate practical information on energy efficiency.

Creating Networks: CENEf tracked 19 good examples of energy efficiency in Russia and developed a municipal energy efficiency "network" through the development of a database of city officials involved in energy issues. The database forms a line of communication across Russia's vast land to inform municipal leaders about low- and no-cost methods of reducing energy expenses in the city budget.

Energy Monitoring: Of particular importance in Russia is the fact that cities have trouble monitoring energy costs. One of the most persistent barriers to energy efficiency projects, including performance contracting, is the lack of energy monitoring systems and an inability to develop convincing baselines necessary to verify energy savings. For example, after energy efficiency equipment is installed in a hospital, few if any facilities have the ability to determine whether reduced energy costs are the result of mild weather, lower occupancy or changes in behavior. Without a firm baseline or determination of the savings generated solely by new technologies, a city cannot assess the payback of energy efficiency projects and cannot enter into performance contracting arrangements. In response to this need, CENEf designed a software package -- Energy Attestat -- that can monitor energy use in up to one hundred buildings, reasonable for a city's education department, health department or residential district. The software enables the user to cancel out factors that affect overall energy usage, such as the ones described above. If used correctly, the software can create a reasonable baseline and assessment of the actual savings generated by energy efficiency projects. This software can be made available by contacting CENEf. CENEf will continually analyze energy monitoring tools in other countries and help develop an improved software tool that can be disseminated through all the MUNEE countries.

Information Dissemination: In an effort to reach key stakeholders in municipalities throughout Russia, CENEf organized a 2-day seminar, "Energy Efficiency in Reform of Residential and Communal Services" for representatives from 21 cities in four countries: Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. The goal of this activity was to assess successful and replicable examples of city energy management programs for dissemination across the country and the MUNEE network. At the conclusion of the seminar, participants completed surveys in which they indicated areas of greatest need in municipal energy efficiency. The three most highly-rated topics from a list of thirteen topics were: energy passports for buildings, subsidy restructuring, work of ESCOs with public sector clients. The seminar topic drew participants from beyond the Moscow oblast, east of the Urals, south near the Caspian Sea, and north near the Gulf of Finland. The Russian cities that participated included: Bryansk, Cherepovets, Ekaterinburg, Ivanova, Izhevsk, Kharachev, Kostroma, Moscow, Novomoskovsky, Rostov on Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Tambova, Ufa, Zelenograd and the Chuvashian Republic. The seminar presented a rare opportunity for municipal leaders from these different regions to hear how other municipalities are approaching energy reform.

Success Stories: With so many successes in Russian municipal energy efficiency, there has been relatively little analysis of these efforts. There is also little analysis of the institutional and management changes needed in a city to create an effective energy management plan. CENEf developed a set of criteria for successful energy efficiency projects in Russia, including institutional arrangements, monitoring systems, tariff design, collection methods, and political leadership. CENEf chose five showcase projects in Russia and has drafted a report to explain why these projects are particularly successful and replicable throughout Russia. This report can be found on munee.org under the Resources/Library link.

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